reanimator

THE FLICK: The creators of Re-Animator are spot-on when they attribute their film’s success to the video boom of the ‘80s – that magical era when underage kids across the country could walk into a “mom n’ pop” rental store and ogle shelf after shelf of temptingly lurid cover art, all of it promising the sort of illicit sex and gore only the new unrated video market could offer. How do I know this? Because (dramatic pause)... I WAS THAT UNDERAGE KID! Bet you didn’t see that coming. Well, neither did all the pimply-faced teenagers who took home a copy of Stuart Gordon’s debut feature, a wildly loose adaptation of a series of H.P. Lovecraft stories that combined dead-pan humor with outlandish amounts of blood. Anchored by a star-making performance from Jeffery Combs (that unjustly never turned him into a star), Re-Animator was one of the few films that lived up to the advertising on its box, pushing the limits of bad taste to the point of no return. After an over-the-top intro that expertly sets the tone for the rest of the film, Herbert West (Combs) enrolls at Miskatonic University where he rents a room from fellow med student, Dan (Bruce Abbott), who just happens to be dating the Dean’s daughter, Megan (the luscious Barbara Crampton). West’s experiments begin with his roomate’s cat, then steamroll out of control, involving a morgue full of cadavers and even the Dean himself. While West and Dan are scrambling to stay out of jail and keep their undead creations hidden long enough to continue their experiments, a rival scientist, Dr. Hill (David Gale), plots to steal their formula and sports an unhealthy lust for Megan’s body. The duel between West and Dr. Hill, full of academic insults and scientific one-upmanship, is the narrative drive behind the film, with both actors putting on the performance of their careers. And the script keeps pace by piling on one outrageous twist after another. Anyone who dies in the film is fair game to be re-animated...even if they didn’t die in one piece! It’s this relentless unpredictability that keeps Re-Animator fresh after 20 years. Even the gore – severed heads, bursting chests and pulsating eyeballs – hold up as some of the most gruesome practical effects put to film. Even director Stuart Gordon’s “shot-for-the-stage” approach works in the film’s favor. At times the movie feels like a high-school take on Titus Andronicus, gleefully tossing raw meat in the audience’s laps from the comfort of its obviously self-contained set. And it’s Gordon’s emphasis on snappy dialogue and performance that has elevated Re-Animator above the standard Fangoria fan circles into semi-legitimate status...any film with a disembodied head giving head can only rise so far. THE FEATURES: Re-Animator has hit DVD a few times already, but I don’t think you’ll find many fans complaining about it finally finding its way into the hands of the folks at Anchor Bay who specialize in just this sort of material. The biggest selling point is the all-new 70-minute featurette Re-Animator Resurrectus. Mostly interviews over running footage and stills, this is a hard-working, comprehensive, concise conglomeration of the high-points of the film’s production – from Gordon’s ostracization from his theater group for participating in such “drivel” to the film’s surprising flood of good reviews on opening day. This is a tightly edited piece that does all the leg-work for you. For those with a hankering for more, there are two commentary tracks (a solo turn by Gordon and a group yakfest with producer Brian Yuzna and the cast), a number of one-on-one interviews (Gordon, writer Dennis Paoli, composer Richard Band and Fangoria editor Tony Timpone), three separate still galleries and the complete screenplay and original Lovecraft stories on DVD-ROM. Most of this is recycled material from previous releases, but the presentation is nearly impeccable. And if deleted scenes are your thing, Re-Animator supplies more than a few of substance, including two very interesting subplots (West shooting up his own formula and Dr. Hill’s hypnotic powers) that clear up some questions in the final cut. If you’re even a casual fan of horror I don’t see how you can pass this up, especially when the package includes a neon-green highlighter shaped like the classic Re-Animator syringe!